Cheri Huys began her 30+ year career with CARSA (later named the Niagara Region Sexual Assault Centre -NRSAC) in August, 1986. She was filling a temporary maternity leave position, and she never left! Cheri was part of the skeleton crew of staff that provided crisis response to survivors of sexual violence in Niagara from their office in Niagara Falls. Staff did everything at that time from home-based crisis intervention, crisis calls, hospital response, court and police accompaniment to training volunteers. Sometimes there was funding and sometimes there wasn’t. In 1991, CARSA received increased funding which provided for a permanent full-time position of Volunteer Coordinator that Cheri readily accepted. The role at the time included providing required statistics for the Centre’s funder: The Ministry of Solicitor General. Cheri embraced her role as Volunteer Coordinator and developed the position and program training that became influential within the Niagara Region and beyond. There were no shortages of volunteers and Cheri’s commitment to the work of the Centre was shared and embraced by the numerous volunteers she trained. Many of the volunteers stayed with us for a very long time because of their connection to Cheri and her role here. In the later years of her career, Cheri had the opportunity to develop her administrative abilities and contributed regularly and often to pivotal management areas for the agency. Her role on the Personnel committee provided historical understanding that provided balance and direction moving forward. Part of Cheri’s educational role included being a CAPP (Child Assault Prevention Program) facilitator and animator. Many on the CAPP team have said, if an award existed for her role in the program, she would most certainly be the sole recipient. On a more personal side, Cheri was a great listener, problem solver and wonderful support to all of her co-workers. She would happily debrief with a counsellor following a particularly difficult session, coach a placement student through a challenging crisis call, give a new employee a friendly home base to bounce questions from.  Cheri, a fierce advocate for CARSAs clients and rallied support from the volunteer pool for the WITCH (Women in the Courthouse) program.  Always in the know about the prevalent issues surrounding sexualized violence within society, and passionate in making others aware of these injustices. 

Cheri’s spirit and way of working was the embodiment of the feminist empowerment model that fuels our agency. She was quite literally, the fuel for the agency in countless ways. Our agency benefited time and time again from her creative mind, her approach to problem solving and her “out of the box’ thinking. Our roots are now quite deep, and it is in large part due to the grass roots activism and Cheri’s approach to this work.  Her work continues to remind us of the importance of not forgetting that….where we came from.

We knew when she left that we would never be able to replace her and we are fortunate that the agency we are today, has in large part been shaped by Cheri and her contributions. Her spirit will live on and for that we are eternally grateful and blessed.